Britain cracks down on Wi-Fi hijacking

A UK man has been fined £500 and sentenced to 12 months' conditional discharge for hijacking a wireless broadband connection.

The case is likely to signal an end to the idea of using open wireless broadband connections and war chalking.

Gregory Straszkiewicz "piggybacked" on a wireless broadband network of a local Ealing resident, using a laptop while sitting in his car.

Simon Janes, a former head of the Computer Crime Unit and now operations manager for computer forensics firm Ibas, told the BBC that gaining unauthorised access to someone else's network is an offence and people have to take responsibility for their actions. Some people might argue that taking a joy-ride in someone else's car is not an offence either.